Horniman’s Shared World summer season celebrates the opening of its new World Gallery

The Horniman celebrates the opening of its new World Gallery of anthropology with a vibrant Shared World summer season of events and activities for everyone to enjoy.

From Sunday 8 July to Sunday 2 September 2018 fun festival days, music, dance, food and art activities that all share the human qualities of creativity, curiosity and collaboration will take place across the Museum and Gardens. The season marks the opening of the new World Gallery, a wonderful new display of over 3,000 objects from around the world that celebrates and explores what it means to be human.

We are excited to be opening our new World Gallery and exploring its themes through a rich summer season of specially curated events and activities. Developed in partnership with established and emerging artists from the UK and around the world, the programme will showcase new commissions inspired by our collections and performances that explore the different ways we celebrate our shared world.
Tim Corum, Director Curatorial & Public Engagement

The Shared World season gets off to a dynamic start on Sunday 8 July with a Festival of Dance featuring dance and music from around the globe for all the family to enjoy and take part in.

Highlights of the Shared World season include:

  • Festival of Dance, an exciting day of dance and music from around the world, created in partnership with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (8 July)
  • A special evening of dance, tours, talks, film screenings and installations at our Wonderful World Late which includes a site specific performance of British-Brazilian choreographer Jean Abreu’s Solo for Two co-commissioned with Southbank Centre (19 July)
  • Performances by Diego Alonso Laverde Rojas on the arpa llanera (31 July) and Jali Bakary Konteh on the kora (28 August) as part of our Hear it Live! series
  • Global sounds on our Bandstand Terrace at our Sunset Sessions featuring Kabantu (26 July), KOG & The Zongo Brigade (2 August) and The Brass Funkeys (9 August)
  • An eclectic mix of Afro-Latin styles, Cumbia, Calypso and Afrobeat from nine-piece bands and soulful artists at our Sunday Bandstand Concerts featuring Dende (5 August), Native Sun (19 August) and Matuki (26 August)
  • Big Wednesdays (8, 15, 22, 29 August) featuring storytelling, performances, art and craft and film celebrating what makes us human and connects us with nature as well as workshops by Community Partners connected to the Studio Collective (8, 15 August)
  • A celebration of global food and feasting cultures, accompanied by carnival parades, Turkish folk music, Balkan dance beats, North African Gnawa sounds and pop-up dance performances at our closing festival Flavours of the World (2 September)
  • In November we will reflect on the response to the gallery and summer programme in a seminar, Re-imagining the Human, which will examine how objects inspire curiosity and lead people to explore what is important and interesting to them as individuals. Presented with the support of the International Council of Museums.

Visitors to the Horniman’s 16 acres of glorious gardens can also see a new Grasslands Garden from Friday 29 June, linked to the World Gallery. This beautiful planting by Olympic Park designer James Hitchmough recreates the North American prairie and South American grasslands, with different species in bloom all summer.

The Horniman’s Shared World season was made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The Horniman’s Shared World season was developed with the help of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Continental Drifts Global Local.

The season runs from Sunday 8 July to Sunday 2 September 2018. For full information please see listings on the right or go to horniman.ac.uk/sharedworld.

The Horniman’s new World Gallery opens to the public on Friday 29 June 2018. Entry to the World Gallery is free.

The World Gallery ​is part of the Horniman’s wider anthropology project, which also includes development of The Studio – a new, co-curated, contemporary arts space responding to the Horniman’s anthropology collection opening in October 2018.